Vinorelbine - how long before you start to see an effect?

Feeling very lumpy and grumpy today. I am just coming up to my second treatment of Vinorelbine but have not seen any progress so far in reducing the various lumps on my chest and neck. In fact I think that they have got worse. I know I am impatient, but last time the effect on my neck lump was so dramatic (although it returned just as dramatically by the end of the docetaxol). Has anyone else had experience of Vinorelbine working slowly?

Many thanks

Pat

Hi Pat

When I had my first cycle of vinorelbine 2 years ago my most obvious lump got smaller. Reducation continued through 6 cycles (combined with xeloda.) When I came off it, tumours grew again immediately.

Oncs thought it worth a try to have more vinorelbine recently, but this time it didn’t work. Well…I thought there might be an improvement after 1 cycle but by 3 I couldn’t convince myself any longer and CT confirmed. I stopped after 4 and a half cycles.

B***y drugs.

Thinking of you…one cycle is early days.

Jane x

I was on vinorelbine for just over a year , it showed good results after 3 months , but now it has stopped working , will not know what i am having now until after the 28 th . Hoped this has helped , take care x

Hi Pat,

When I was dx with bone mets I also had a number of lumps around my neck, collarbone & chest area and was put on xeloda. I reacted pretty badly to that from the start so was taken off it whilst on the 3rd lot. There is some advantage in having the ca manifest itself so visibly because we can see very quickly if we are responding to chemos. I was then put onto navelbine and the response was total but very gradual over the course of the chemo. When I came off it the lumps returned :(. That was my last chemo option and fortunately for me they then checked back on histology and found I was her2 pos. I hope you get results on it - but like mine it could be slow.

Dawn

Thanks everyone, this was really helpful. I am feeling very fed up at the moment as as well as no evidence of improvement I am also finding that I have had really bad stomach cramps, sickness and diarrhoea since last Friday, which may or may no be related to the chemo and/or the desease which is also in the outer lining of the bowel.

Dawn/Jane, did the lumps return just as bad after the chemo? Could you not try another course (like Jane)?

Carol - wow a year on this chemo - I hope I have the same, it was reassuring to hear that it took a while to take effect with you too. Now I am hoping that this time it may be that it starts slower and holds it back longer.

Patx

The Marsden recommended that I try vinorelbine the second time because it did work the first time. (reduced tumour size) Worth a shot but it didn’t for me in the end work.

I accept I’m now out of realistic chemo options though other people in my position might push for pegylated doxuribycin (like AC…but as it didn’t work the first time I don’t think its worth it again.)

I’m so sorry that you’re having such nasty side effects Pat.

Jane

Hi Pat,

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No the onc didnt give them a chance to! I remember that they had gone, I went of and had a lovely holiday at the end to celebrate - cruising and Alaska. But I so clearly remember on the way home noticing they were coming back so when I got home I went the next day to the hospital. It was at that point my onc said we had run out of options. This was 7 years ago and they weren’t recycling chemos then. If you had had it that was it! I am just so thankful he went back to check on my her2 status on the last tumour that was removed, and that they had done the tests on it then, even though I knew nothing of the results. It was such a relief when I started on herceptin that the lumps went so quickly. I had quite a bit of damage with scar tissue in my neck from all the lumps - I couldnt turn my head to one side. Even that cleared up.

Sorry have rambled on a bit.

Dawn
xx